Corporatestrategy
Booz Allen is offering words of caution on crowdsourcing. It is a new thing, therefore relatively untested, and it certainly has its optimal applications and its limits – which probably haven’t been found yet. It’s just another tool available and should be subject to the same rigorous analysis before the company starts using it.
Part 2 of the excerpts from our Q4 2008 report. In Part 1, we introduced and exemplified the theme of the structural fragility of incentive systems via two texts, “Own Goal” and “Dolus Bonus”. In this text, we present the core of our reflection on the subject in order to highlight the importance of raising our moral critical standards.
Read more about IP report excerpts, vol. 4: Moral diligence (part 2)
Facebook is just starting to tap the immense wealth of data generated by its 300mm audience, as reported in their blog and in the New York Times (free registration required) yesterday. This particular study on the “Happiness Index” is more of a teaser, a taste of what is to come. We don’t pretend to know [...]
Netflix is one of the most admirable cases around on corporate strategy AND execution. It shows how you can make billions out of simple things. That said, they have to kill a lion a year to stay ahead. Investment-wise, we never got to the point where we felt we knew enough to invest in them – and don’t regret not doing it.
Read more about Netflix doing the right things at the right time
The Netflix Prize has been awarded and it’s a great example of crowdsourcing. But is such “open collaboration” a tool for every situation? How open do you really want to be? Some are looking at his and saying “hold your horses”. That’s always good advice in our book.
Underdogs stand a better chance to win when they don’t play by the “rules” – when they innovate. Can’t beat the opponent at his game? Change the game. From a basketball team of 12-yr-old white girls making it to the Nationals to David to Lawrence of Arabia, Malcolm Gladwell’s (long) article at the New Yorker [...]
A joint venture between an acupuncturist and a voodoo priest. Total scalability with zero marginal costs!